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Sharkweek just ended. Finally managed to see the Megalodon episode. I was extremely curious since it was so widely panned. Being from a science background and an avid fan of marine biology, I wanted to see how bad it was. I realized from the trailers that it was going to be absolute bollocks! but I was not prepared for this. The Moon-landing conspiracy is better designed than this. What the heck! Nessi is better designed than this. Everything they showed was pure BS. Every claim they made was full of holes. This idea had more holes than a tea-strainer. Scientists who do not exist in real life? Scientists who do exist but their schools are not shown just their department is shown? I have lost faith in the three “experts” that were shown on the show. They deserve to be banished from the scientific community after this farce. The photos do not match up to the accounts, heck! the dramatization does not match up to the accounts.

I have spent a lot of my childhood seeing Discovery Channel and while I understand Discovery is not a declared scientific organization like National Geographic , they still do have a responsibility towards their younger audience. Adults can clearly see that this is pure BS and they do, the widespread uproar suggests so, but Discovery Channel is also seen by young impressionable children. I am terrified of sharks. They are the one fear I have, that I know of, but I also know that my fear is irrational. Sharks are not out to hunt humans. All the interactions are misunderstandings on the shark’s part and encroachment of their territory by us on our part. I was terrified of them in my childhood and I still am but if tomorrow someone comes up to me and asks me to help with Shark conservation, then I will do my best. I am afraid of them but now I am more afraid of Discovery Channel.

It would appear that Discovery Channel has been exemplary in creating works of SH*T lately. I also found out about the “Mermaid” shows and watched them. I am not sure if anyone in Discovery network is ever going to read this, but from this moment on Discovery Channel is NOT a education channel, its NOT ONLY an entertainment channel, but I now consider it to be a criminal organization. Its crime? It has betrayed my trust in them, it has dealt a blow if nothing else to shark conservation and will be responsible in part for every shark that dies from humans from now on. How can they claim an actor for a scientist? How can they say that he is a marine biologist? How does putting a tiny 1 sec disclaimer make it acceptable? How can they show an ordinary video of a shark swimming by and then “calculate” its dimensions to be 60+ ft? Do they even know what 60 ft looks like? The claimed witness photo by the SA spotter is so downright a blatant lie that I cannot even believe they thought it would be believable in any context. The Brazilian rescue footage does not even tally with whatever they made the poor guy claim. I am not a student of marine biology but even I can tear the whole episode apart from pure logic. And don’t even get me started on the excellent “scientific” conclusions that the “marine biologist”s and presumed “experts” got to in the last dramatization.

I am now actively going to ask the people I know to stop watching any channel from the Discovery network for any remote scientific sense. I can only wish that Steve Irwin is not turning in his premature grave, for if he witnessed this attack on shark conservation then I cannot imagine how hurt he would have been. If you want to see a FAR FAR more accurate documentary on Megalodon then watch this documentary from National Geographic (which still remains a scientific organization for me).

Anirban ’N3CRO’ Samanta

I am a graduate student (MS) at University of California, Irvine majoring in Electrical Engineering. This blog is about whatever crosses my thoughts and my life, expect surprises, boring moments, reviews, views, tech, romance, etc etc etc...... you get what I mean.

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